How to Copy Trades on Futures: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why Copy Your Own Trades?

If you trade futures across multiple prop firm accounts, you have probably experienced the frustration of trying to place the same trade on several accounts at once. You nail an entry on one account, but by the time you switch to the next, the market has already moved.

Trade copying solves this by automating the process. You trade on one account — your leader — and every connected follower account receives the same trade automatically. No switching between windows, no rushed order entry, and no missed fills.

Step 1: Understand the Leader-Follower Model

Every trade copier works on the same basic principle. You designate one account as the leader (sometimes called the master or source account). This is where you actively trade. All your other accounts are followers — they do not require any manual input. When the leader places a trade, the copier replicates it to every follower automatically.

For prop firm traders, the leader account is typically your primary evaluation or funded account. Your other evaluations and funded accounts across different firms become the followers.

Step 2: Choose Your Trade Copier Setup

There are two main approaches to trade copying for futures:

Desktop-based (Local) Copiers run on your computer or a VPS alongside your trading platform. They offer fast local execution but require you to keep the software and platform running continuously.

Cloud-based Copiers run on remote servers. You connect your accounts through an API or OAuth integration, and the copier runs independently of your computer. For most prop firm traders, a cloud-based copier is the more practical choice in 2026.

Step 3: Connect Your Accounts

Using a cloud-based copier like MimikTrader, the setup process is straightforward:

If you trade through NinjaTrader or TradingView, your trades still route through Tradovate. MimikTrader connects at the Tradovate level, so it captures trades regardless of which front-end platform you use.

Step 4: Designate Your Leader and Followers

Once your accounts are connected, select one account as your leader — this is where you will place all your trades. Assign the remaining accounts as followers. You can organize accounts into groups if you want different subsets of followers to receive different trades or have different settings.

Step 5: Configure Risk Settings

This is a critical step, especially for prop firm traders. Each follower account may have different rules. In MimikTrader, you can configure the following for each follower account individually:

• Daily loss limit: Automatically flattens positions if the account hits a specified loss threshold for the day.
• Trailing drawdown: Monitors the trailing drawdown level and can flatten positions before the prop firm's threshold is breached.
• Profit target: Can automatically stop copying or flatten once a daily profit target is reached.
• Auto-flatten: Closes all positions at specified times or under specified conditions.

Step 6: Set Up Cross-Contract Mapping

If your follower accounts trade different contract sizes than your leader, configure cross-contract mapping. Common examples include NQ to MNQ, ES to MES, and CL to MCL. This is useful when you have smaller evaluation accounts where you want to trade micro contracts while your main account trades standard contracts.

Step 7: Place Your First Trade

With everything configured, trade normally on your leader account. When you enter a position — whether it is a market order, limit order, or bracket order with stop loss and take profit — MimikTrader will automatically copy it to all your follower accounts in real time. Check your follower accounts in the dashboard to confirm the trade was copied.

Tips for Successful Trade Copying

• Start with a small number of follower accounts while you familiarize yourself with the setup
• Always verify your risk settings before trading live
• Monitor your first few sessions carefully — watch how trades replicate and check fill prices
• Keep your MimikTrader dashboard accessible during trading sessions